Zimbabwe: clashes, unrest continue

A group of white Zimbabwean farmers were reunited with their families yesterday, after two weeks in jail charged with inciting violence.

The men were arrested on Aug. 6 in the northwestern town of Chinhoyi for allegedly assaulting supporters of President Robert Mugabe on a white-owned farm occupied by self-styled war veterans.

"Things are still a bit tense. None of them wants to talk to the press. They are still very scared, and their court case is coming up," a Commercial Farmers' Union spokesman in Chinhoyi told Reuters.

Zimbabwe has been in crisis since February of last year, when militants invaded white-owned farms in what they say is support for Mr. Mugabe's campaign to seize white farms for redistribution to landless blacks.

The land seizure campaign has been criticized by Western governments, including the United States and Britain, and has depressed foreign investor sentiment toward southern Africa.